Ruby Goes to School!

Sniff sniff, tear.  My baby is all grown up.

Ok, not really, but it feels like we just had a huge milestone!

Monday was Ruby's very first day at toddler group.  

I know.  What the heck is toddler group, and why do I keep calling it school?  Basically, it's preschool. For 1 year olds.  So it's pre-preschool?  It's a one day a week (we go Mondays from 10:15-12:15) program for the one year old class.  It's parent co-op, which means that I go with her, and I (and all the other parents) am very involved in the class operation.  Throughout the year we adults will help with the children, help with clean-up/maintenance, snack preparation, and assist the teacher with some curriculum material prep.

It is also a parent-education class, and is run in conjunction with a local technical college (so I'm getting college credits while attending, too, ha!).  This means that once the year gets settled, half of the parents will be with the kiddos helping, and the other half will be in parent-ed session.  Then the next week we'll flip flop.  So every other week, we get our learning on while the kids are playing in their classrooms.  I'm excited about this part, because even though I actually have a degree in child development, I can always learn more.  We also have occasional evening parent ed events that we must attend, but there are some fun evening/weekend activities for the whole family to do together too.  It is very community oriented!

Ruby is in a class with 17 other toddlers (which sounds crazy, but it was actually ok!).  Her school has two classrooms.  One with toys, blocks, puzzles, a rotating activity based on the week's curriculum, puppets, books, and a sensory table.  The other has the art projects available for the day, a different sensory table, and some dramatic play items.  Then we have the "gross motor hallway" full of fun things like ride-on toys, a toddler sized basketball hoop, and ball pit to name a few.  The kids have free reign of all of their areas, and can choose their activity at will.

Our parent-ed classroom is across the hall, and the kids are welcome in there too.  Which means if it is my week to be in session, but Ruby is just really needing her mama, she's welcome to come in and be with me.  Pretty awesome.

So, how did our first day go?

It was great!

Upon arrival, we put our stuff away and went to wash hands.  Admittedly, Ruby was scared of washing hands on the stool in the bathroom, but it was ok.  We signed in and got our nametags (we put the kids' on their backs so that they wouldn't pull them off, lol), and went in for open choice play!  Ruby was a little unsure, but the ball pit was calling her name...

Sizin' up the other kiddos.

After a bit, she noticed a bear in the "blue room", so we went on in.  Ruby had a lot of fun playing with  more balls, trucks, cars, and puppets.  After a while, I encouraged her to see what was in the "green room".  She saw her buddy J in there, and requested to sit down in one of the little chairs at the art table.  She was super into the tiny chairs.

She did some "art", which consisted of sticking cotton balls to glue (that I'd helped her with), and coloring with markers.  Which she really liked, probably since I've never let her use them, ha!  And in case you're wondering, yes, washable markers wash out.  Not that I've already learned that or anything.  

Once she was done, I let her explore the green room.  I needed to grab my sweatshirt from the coat area, so I left her in the care of her buddy's mama, Jessie, and when I came back it was already clean up time!  I got assigned gross motor hallway clean up.  Ruby was happy to stay with Jessie (she already knows and loves her), so I put all the big toys away, then snatched up my girl to go wash hands again before snack.

For some reason snack was scary to her (weird, because we all know she loves to eat!).  She liked sitting in the little chair again, and ate up her blueberries, but wouldn't touch the other food!  It was so funny to me, because snack was basically all of her favorite foods, since Jessie was the first snack mom - she brought foods that she knew Ruby & her son loved, since those two were her only frame of reference.  Ruby proclaimed she was "all done!", which everyone thought was pretty cute, so we cleaned up and went back to the blue room to read stories until the others were finished.

Once everyone was done, it was circle time.  Miss Susanne led us in songs, ending with our good-bye song, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear.  The big bear Ruby had noticed upon our arrival "helped" out with this, and Ruby was ALL over that.  Miss Susanne blew some bubbles for the kiddos to try to pop in the middle of circle too, which was also a hit.  At the very end, all of the toddlers got to go up to the teacher and get a hand stamp.  Ruby was super into it, so she got one on each hand, lol.

Our school is awesome and has a little playground (none of the other toddler groups around here do), so we ended the day by gathering our things and heading out there.

Ruby loved the playground!  She and her bff did some "cooking" together.  These two have known each other since they were about a month old, and see each other every week.  So they're pretty comfortable together!

Outdoor playtime is also a time where they prep parents (we all take turns with this job on a rotating schedule) reset the classroom for the next day's class.  Their kiddos can stay with them inside, or the other parents can keep an eye on them on the playground.

Ruby & her buddy had a great time out there.  We were the last ones to leave!

Pale baby is pale. 

Note to self.  Invest in a raincoat and boots.  We play outside rain or shine, and in Washington, well, it's pretty much going to be rain!

The only bummer about school is that it is pretty far from home.  About a 45 minute drive.  We toured the many toddler programs around the area, and this one blew all the others out of the water.  It was also the cheapest, which was not really a deciding factor (though the one closest to our home cost twice as much!).  It was a bonus that we had several friends decide on the same one as well, since we all said we were going to choose whichever was the best fit for us.  

The bummer?  Class ends at lunchtime.  And a full morning of school + a 45min drive = guaranteed car nap.  Which means Ruby really needs to eat lunch before we leave school and head home.  That car nap will likely be her only nap of the day!  We ate at a park down the street, which Ruby loved, but come winter I'm not exactly sure what we will do. =(  Still, if that's the only bummer about her school, I will take it!

Overall, I am so excited for the year to come, and so grateful that programs like this exist.  I can't wait to see Ruby blossom in an environment designed for her and her peers to grow together.  And I look forward to the parenting sessions with the other moms (and sometimes dads).  Our first day was great, the other families are very friendly and down to earth (and we already knew several from our Parent-Baby class days), and the curriculum is incredibly developmentally appropriate and seems like it will be a good stepping stone into Montessori preschool when Ruby is old enough for that.

I think she's pretty excited too.  Can't wait for next week!

Separation Anxiety is No Fun for Anyone

This is what happens anytime I hand Ruby off to Mr. G.

I wish I were joking.  It's like a switch flips.  And then he hands her back to me, and she's just fine.  Well, usually.  If I leave her for a longer time, like, say, to take a shower, she is in full-on meltdown mode when I get out and it takes me a bit to calm her down.

I thought it was a little early for the separation anxiety to hit, so I brought it up in baby class a couple weeks ago.  Apparently, it's not.  It seems Ruby has figured out that she's not actually a part of me, and that is big time scary for babies.  So when she realizes she's not with me, that's just too overwhelming for her.

I also learned that this is a sign that she has a secure attachment to her primary caregiver.  Which is a good thing.  Apparently I've done a good job getting her to trust me, and teaching her that I will respond to her needs.

But it sucks if you're her dad.  Or her grandma.  Or anybody else who may want to hold her.  And if you're her mommy?  Well, you better not have any plans of doing anything that doesn't involve holding and touching Ruby.  Naps, if taken, are now only taken ON me in the Beco.  If I want to get ready in the morning, I will lay her beside me on the bed, and she rolls to her side so that she can touch my leg the whole time.  And she often stops nursing to look up at me and touch my face.  Oh yeah, and on the changing pad, she must reach out and touch me the entire time.

In a way, it's flattering.  I'm glad my girl loves her mama.  I'm even more glad that she feels safe with me, and that we've created a good attachment.  I'm really glad that she knows I will meet her needs, and that she's never had to just give up on me because she thinks I won't.  I do wish I could shower without hearing a crying baby when I get out.  Or that Mr. G's feelings wouldn't get hurt.  Or that I could be not touched by anyone for more than 5 seconds during the day.

But like all things in parenthood, this too shall pass.  One day she'll be off on her own, and I'll be sad that she doesn't want her mama anymore, I'm sure.

A Day in My Life

It's Tuesday!  Tuesday is my most regular day of the week, because we usually go to baby class that day.  In case you missed it, last week I was over on Ashley's blog sharing a Tuesday of my life.  So, since Tuesday has rolled around again, I figured I'd share it here, for posterity.  Luckily, I don't think today will be as crazy as this one was!

Oh, and if you came to my blog because of my post over on Ashley's blog, welcome! =)

***  

5:30 - My alarm goes off.  Yuck.  I want to shower before Keith leaves though, so I have to get up this early.  I'm exhausted because I stayed up late watching Coma, but it's now or never.  I turn on the news for a minute to help me wake up, then I hop in the shower.

6:05 - Ruby is still asleep, so I pump the side she's not going to nurse off of.  I stay home with her, and we rarely do bottles, but I got nervous thinking something might happen to me or my supply so I'm trying to create a freezer stash.  I get 3.72oz.  Not bad!

6:30 - I do my makeup, and finish just in time to do the "car rodeo" with Keith.  We have a 1-car garage and 1-car driveway.  My car was in the driveway and he had to leave, so a rodeo was necessary.  We call it that because K used to be a firefighter, and the driving test for the engine is called a rodeo.  How that translated to our driveway shuffle, I can't even remember, but the car rodeo is seriously a pain.

Ruby is still sleeping when we're done, so I take the time to make coffee, check emails, make a list of all the errands we need to do today, dry & straighten my hair, and read blogs because she's still asleep after all that!  I am really fortunate, Ruby is a great nighttime sleeper.  As in, she doesn't wake at all from the time we put her down until she's up for the day in the morning.  I'm terrified the four-month wakeful will hit and it will all go away!  And before you all hate me, she doesn't nap well at ALL.

Good morning!

7:50 - Ruby is awake!  Good thing too, I was about to have to wake her up, we're going to our parent-baby class at the hospital today.  She nurses, then we play for a bit and I trim her nails.  She scratched me good while she was nursing.  That's usually how I know it's time for a trim.

She loves to play with her burpies, too.  Weirdo.

I take her into the nursery and set her on her playmat so I can figure out what to dress her in.  She is just starting to bat at the toys, and today she managed to turn the music on in the little tiger-thing for the first time, sweet!

I can't figure out what to put her in, though.  It's going to be a weird weather day - 74 later, but it's in the 50s now.  And her little cardigans are too big for her, but I don't find that out until I've made her do several outfit changes, and now she's not too happy with me.  I realize her jeggings are down in the diaper bag, so I just put her into the car seat without them.  I'll dress her when we get there.

8:50 - Crap!  We're late!  I meant to get out the door 10 minutes earlier.  It's the first day of school in the three districts we have to drive through and I know traffic will be a mess.  I'm not wrong.  It's horrible.  After enduring an aggravating interchange, we get into the carpool lane and cruise the rest of the way to the hospital.

9:27 - We pull into the hospital garage.  It takes 10 more minutes to park (the spaces are soooo narrow, but I manage to snag one on the end), get all our stuff loaded into the Snap N Go, and get into the hospital and down to our classroom.  We stroll in and...  No one else is there.  Whaaa?  We're 10min late!  I guess everyone else is, too.

I take Ruby out of her car seat, put her pants on, and hand her off to Wendy, our instructor, so I can run down the hall to the bathroom.  It is really weird to be able to pee in peace, alone.

When I get back, a few other mommies and babies have trickled in.  Wendy told me that Ruby cried after I left.  That's new, I wonder if the separation anxiety phase is kicking in.  I open up some yogurt I brought along (Fage raspberry, SO good!), and class begins.

Our little square of the room.  We have everything we need!

Class today is awesome.  A woman who did parent-baby long ago, also happens to be a therapist.  She came to talk about the adjustment to parenthood, and then helped us out with role-play and suggestions for our own personal issues with our spouses/parents/inlaws/etc.  It was good to know that pretty much all of the other mothers there share the same struggles I do (I notice this every week and it always shocks me, but always makes me feel better).  Class today was small, so she had time to help all of us.  Usually we only have guest speakers for half of the class, and the other half we spend with questions/concerns about what our babies are up to that week, but we spend the whole time with our speaker.  She was that cool.  During class we also nurse, change, and play with our babies.  I try to get Ruby to nap, and even though I'm usually able to in class, she's not having it.  Even sitting on one of the yoga balls they bring in for us doesn't help.  Oh well.

She listens really intently to the speakers.  It's so cute.

Class ends at 11:30, but I spend the next 40min chatting.  That's the best thing about it, I've formed friendships with other mothers, and all of their babies are Ruby's age.  We frequently have picnics or playdates outside of class, and we discussed what we wanted to do next.

12:10 - I take the tunnel from the building I'm in to the main part of the hospital.  I need to go upstairs to the Baby Boutique and buy Ruby a swim diaper.  I signed her up for an infant swim class and it starts soon.  I buy the smallest one they have (3-6mo) hoping it will fit her.  She's a peanut.

12:25 - Finally leave the hospital.  We drive 20min south to the dealership where we bought my car.  They have a car wash there that is free to use if your car is from there.  I try to take advantage of it whenever I'm in the area.  It's a nice day, so there's a ton of people there, but Ruby seems to have fallen asleep in her car seat, so I use their wifi to browse on my phone for the 20ish more minutes it takes.

1:03 - Clean car!  We're off to Whole Foods now.  I need to buy some no-salt black beans (my husband has Meniere's Disease, so has to eat an extremely low-sodium diet) and some other stuff for dinner.  After I park, I hop in the back and find this little lady:

She's awake, and hungry, so we nurse right there in the car.  A quick diaper change in the trunk of our SUV, and we're ready.  I pop her in my Beco so I can have both hands to shop.  Miraculously, Ruby does not spit up all over me while she's in there.

Please excuse the blurriness!  I was a little nervous someone would come into the WF bathroom and wonder what the heck I was doing... but I also figured I should be in at least one picture!

2:10 - We leave Whole Foods and I decide to take the scenic road around the lake to our town.

2:30 - We stop at Michael's.  This is finally our last stop!  I decide to risk it, and put Ruby in the Snap N Go, instead of in the Beco.  She hates her car seat, so this is always risky, but she seems like she's in a good mood.  We go to the back corner of the store where the yarn is.  I need more to finish a hat for her, and two for my friend who just had a baby (and her 2.5 year old, so she doesn't feel left out).

The Snap N Go was a mistake.  My arms are loaded with yarn, and Ruby decides she's had it.  I hustle out of there.  We get back to the car, and...  crap.  I forgot I needed a lime when we were at Whole Foods.  Ugh.  I decide to stop at Fred Meyer, since it's in between Michael's and home.

3:00 - Ruby's still crying, so I take her out of the car seat and just carry her into the store.  This actually pacifies her, so it was a good call.  I grab my limes, strap an again-screaming Ruby back into her car seat, and head for home.  Apparently this is too many errands in one day for her.  The lack of nap in class probably didn't help either.

3:20 - Home sweet home!

The garage is the first story of our townhouse, so it takes us a bit to get all of our stuff inside and up the stairs.  I put the groceries away, then whisk Ruby upstairs to change her diaper.  I leave her naked, but swaddle her up.  It's late, but she needs a good nap or she'll be a mess by bedtime.  She nurses for a while, and at 4:15, I put her in her crib.

She still needs a swaddle for naps.

4:21 - She's awake.  Ugh.  I rock her for 10 minutes, then put her down again.  She's out.  Phew!  Keith comes home right after.

I realize that I never ate lunch today and am starving!  Keith says he's hungry too, so I head downstairs to get dinner started.  I get the quinoa started, and then am interrupted by the doorbell.  Diaper mail!  We ordered Ruby some more cloth diapers, since we were able to get 7 for the price of 5 during an awesome sale.  After I ogle them a bit, I finish making dinner: quinoa salad with black beans, tomatoes, orange bell pepper, red onion, avocado, and a lime-cumin dressing.  I don't get to eat it though, little miss is awake.

5:45 - I change Ruby's diaper, then take her back downstairs to nurse.  I'm starving, and I manage to eat while nursing without spilling anything on her!  Success!  I hand her off to Keith when she's done.  While he's holding her, Braidy barks next to them and it totally freaks Ruby out.  Weird!  She has never had that reaction to Braidy barking before.  It takes a few minutes for us to calm her down.

6:30 - We head out for our evening walk.  Ruby is being super crabby in her stroller.  This is also unusual.  Usually she likes looking out at the world on our walk, but she is just not having it.  We're about 3/4 of a mile from home when I decide to just take her out of the stroller and carry her.  She's much happier after that.

We try putting her back in the stroller a when we're closer to home, but she gets upset again, so this time Keith takes her out and I walk the dog/push the stroller.

7:30 - We get back home and I start her bedtime routine.  It's not bath night, so we skip that part, but do vitamins, lotion, diaper, and pjs.  Ruby is clearly way tired, because she cries again.  She usually cries when we put her pjs on - she wants to stay up and not miss anything, I think - but this time it's a total meltdown.

7:40 - I nurse Ruby to sleep, put her in the crib and she stays out.  She was tired!  I relax a bit with the Food Network, keeping an eye on the monitor to make sure she's really out for the night.

8:42 - She really is asleep, so I get the new diapers ready to go in the wash, and dump in the dirty ones.  I go downstairs to grab a popsicle (the Dreyers Real Fruit ones, yum), and my yarn that we got at Michael's.  After I finish the popsicle, I crochet the beak and one of the owl's eyes for Ruby's hat, but I'm too tired to continue (I finished it a few days later, see it here!).  I put it down and turn on the other half of Coma.

10:08 - We're interrupted by a LOUD beeping sound.  It's a furniture truck backing down our street.  Um, what?  Of course, it stops at our new next door neighbor's place.  They moved in 3 days ago, hit Keith's car while it was in our driveway that day, then hammered nails at 7am the next day (a Sunday).  Now they get a (noisy) furniture delivery at 10pm.  They're officially on my not-happy list.

We gripe about the neighbors, get back into bed, and eventually I fall asleep watching tv.  Ruby sleeps until 7:45 the next day, so luckily, I get a decent amount of sleep!

***

Now, for Ashley's questions...

1.)  What is the most surprising thing for you about being a mom?

How hard it is, but yet how amazing.  Breastfeeding was SO hard at the beginning, and made me feel isolated.  But now we're going strong, and that feels awesome!  And some days I'm so tired, I can't wait for her bedtime.  But I still get blown away by how much I love her.  Motherhood is such a dichotomy!

2.)  What advice would you give to new or soon-to-be mamas?

I'm going to pass along my favorite piece of advice that someone told me: you should read the (parenting) book your baby wrote.  In other words, follow your baby!  When Ruby was first born, I freaked out because I was pretty much an expert on fertility (you can read about that here), had read up a ton about pregnancy, but I didn't know anything about newborns!  I thought I needed a book, and I knew which one I didn't want, but not which one I did.  Then I got the advice above, and thought, "Of course!  You're a Montessori teacher, you should have known, follow the child!"  I was already doing that, but once I realized that was all I needed, things got much easier.

3.)  What are your top three baby products?

* Cloth diapers.  Love, love, love these!  We haven't spent a cent buying diapers, they look cute, and well, Ruby only poops once a week, yet we have never ever had a blowout (in spite of her massive poops).  Also, I feel better about not putting crap (literally) in the landfill.

* A mommy-group.  Ok, this isn't a "product," but I'd never have kept my sanity without the camaraderie of the other mothers I've fell in with.  Find some that share your parenting style and have kids the same age as yours.  It's an awesome, awesome thing.

*  Beco Butterfly II.  Pretty early on, Ruby decided she hates her car seat.  Wearing her in the Beco is the only way I can run errands.  Plus, it's really hard to push a cart and a stroller at the same time, and there's not really enough room for groceries if you put the seat in the cart basket.  She also wants to be held pretty much 100% of the time.  The Beco helps out with that a lot.

That's it!  Thanks so much for allowing me to share our day with you!

One Year...

One year ago today, we found out about our miracle "Freebie".

And went from this:

to this

to this

to this

and this.

What a year it has been!

Damn You, P & G

We've been watching a lot of tv in our house this week.  It's ok though, because it's been 100% Olympics.  I LOVE the Olympics.  When I was young, we'd watch it, and for weeks I'd try to do handstands and splits like the gymnasts.  Then I went to high school and joined the swim team (I was a back stroker), so I loooove watching the swimming.  It takes me back.

What's NOT good about all this tv watching, is this commercial:

It (and its many offshoots, this is the long one) make me cry EVERY TIME.  Seriously, just now when I went to YouTube to find it, I was watching it without the sound and I still cried.  It makes me think to the future.  Whatever Ruby wants to do, I will totally be there for her.  I see myself in the bleachers somewhere cheering and wanting to give her a hug, no matter the outcome of her endeavors.  Being a mom changes you in so many ways, and putting that little person first is one of the biggest ones.

And now I'm crying again.

And, yes, I do cry at the Pamper's little miracle commercial too.